Bay State already on path to clean, renewable energy

But sustaining the public's interest in energy and environmental issues in the face of plunging oil prices and concerns about a weak economy will be difficult, some say.

"There's no question it's going to be a very challenging budgetary environment," said Ernest Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative, an effort to improve and transform global energy systems. "The second challenge is one that we really haven't come to grips with, in my view, for many, many years, and that is the issue of crafting the energy policy in a way that recognizes and builds upon the very different regional" resources, Moniz said.

For instance, he said, Massachusetts isn't rich in natural resources, but the state does have the expertise of its academic institutions and business and venture capital communities.

Local industry leaders agree.

"What Massachusetts has been most effective in is the venture-backed, entrepreneurial-led, science-driven companies that have been providing technologies in this space," said Carlos Riva, chief executive of Verenium Corp., a Cambridge company that makes cellulosic ethanol. Local companies are working on such innovations as clean-coal technology and biofuels made from algae, Riva said. "In terms of being an engine of new technologies and new business, I think it's going to be a very strong place to be," he said of Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, David Brewster, president of EnerNOC, a Boston company that pays customers to reduce their electricity usage when demand is high, called the current political interest in energy issues a "huge step forward for the country and for Massachusetts."

Obama "has really made it a point that the new energy economy is going to be a priority," Brewster said. "Massachusetts has a tremendous resource and pool of intellectual horsepower, and has in recent years positioned itself as wanting to be a center of clean energy."

Philip Adams, president of World Energy, an energy-procurement company in Worcester, added, "We sense in Obama a real commitment to solving global climate change. This commitment will increase the likelihood of a national carbon cap-and-trade program, which will provide the funds to support the clean-technology investments that will put us on a path toward energy independence." Such cap-and-trade programs set limits on businesses' emissions and require them to purchase pollution allowances or operate more cleanly.

Massachusetts already is trying to establish dominance in the clean tech sector. This year, Governor Patrick signed five green bills that address efficiency standards, renewable energy goals, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and other energy and environmental issues. Massachusetts also is a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state coalition that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using a mandatory cap-and-trade program that regulates area power plants.

Robert Stavins, an environmental economist and director of Harvard University's environmental economics program, said aligning regional emissions goals with a national effort will be a key issue for Massachusetts.

Stavins said he was optimistic that Obama's energy plan will become working policy as long as his environmental and energy team makes a serious attempt at addressing the problems by working with Congress. To succeed on Capitol Hill, he said, any strategies must make sense both economically and scientifically.

For the nation's energy policies, Stavins said, "It's a defining moment."

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.